


Bunny Ronpa

by zenonaa



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Genre: Multi, ishimaru/mondo - Freeform, nanami/kamukura, saihara/kaede, sakura/asahina, sonia/gundam - Freeform, tenko/koizumi, twogami/ibuki
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-17
Updated: 2019-08-04
Packaged: 2020-06-30 09:19:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19850167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zenonaa/pseuds/zenonaa
Summary: 'It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of bunny ears must be in want of a life mate. When a bunny person developed a certain type of strong bond with another, and if both consented, they would become life mates, practically inseparable for the rest of their lives.'Unfortunately, Naegi can't seem to ask Kirigiri to be his life mate.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> for hare-racer1
> 
> Part 2 will commmeee when it's ready.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of bunny ears must be in want of a life mate. When a bunny person developed a certain type of strong bond with another, and if both consented, they would become life mates, practically inseparable for the rest of their lives.

This was all common knowledge, of course, like how the aforementioned bunny ears weren’t actual ears but an accessory. A mandatory accessory for everyone, but one all the same. They were part of the outfit like the leotards some bunny people wore, or the open waistcoats other bunny people wore, or the shirt collar and tie everybody wore. However, that did not stop Leon Kuwata from bringing it up while he bragged to Makoto.

“... so I asked her and of course she said yes. I mean, come on.” Leon gestured to himself, in his yellow vest jacket and long black pants tucked into his socks. The lower half of his body gave away his status as a baseball player and not the rockstar that he so desired to be. He waved a hand toward Sayaka, who stood beside him with a stony smile. “Look at us! Life mates!”

Ever since yesterday. 

Sayaka bobbed her head in agreement, and as she did, her pink bunny ears flopped forward then back. Makoto glanced up at her from where he sat on a bench opposite them. She wore white tights and her leotard, the same colour as her ears and high heels, sparkled during even the slightest of movements. 

When Leon spoke up again, Makoto’s eyes flitted over to him.

“Maizono-chan’s gorgeous, ain’t she?” asked Leon. “You probably have already, but have you seen how her leotard shows off her assets?”

Very wisely, Makoto chose not to respond. Leon’s remark warranted the warning shot she glared at him. He swiped his index finger across the underside of his nose, unperturbed.

“And her voice... like, damn! She’s beautiful, inside and out,” said Leon. “She’s one in a billion.”

Some colour flushed into Sayaka’s porcelain cheeks. Her smile felt more relaxed and genuine now, and she even pecked Leon on the cheek. Light danced in her eyes as she turned her gaze to Makoto.

“Kirigiri-san is an incredibly nice girl too,” she said, steering the conversation toward the reason why Makoto had approached them in the first place.

Leon furrowed his brow a little. His yellow bunny ears quirked, one bent forward, the other relatively straight up.

“Yeah, you’ve been hanging out a lot with her for some time now,” he told Makoto. “I’ve seen you jumping with her countless number of times. To be honest, before you asked us to meet you here, I thought you two were already life mates.

Makoto grimaced, hunched his shoulders and clasped his knees tightly.

“I’ve wanted to ask her to be my life mate for a while now,” admitted Makoto, and he hesitated. “But...”

Sayaka and Leon leaned in, probably without realising.

“But what?” prompted Sayaka.

So many things. So many, many things. One time, Makoto wanted to try to ask Kyouko, but when he finally got the question out during a walk in one of Hope’s Peak’s gardens, Kiyotaka and Mondo stormed by in a bounce off and when Kyouko asked him to repeat what he said, Makoto told her that he was a lightweight.

When he wrote a letter inviting her to meet with him by the front gates, giving it to Aoi to give to Kyouko, somehow the letter ended up in another person’s possession and he ended up having to explain himself to a confused Touko Fukawa. Kyouko... Touko... He supposed they did sound kind of similar.

Also, he had been about to ask her in the cafeteria when Ibuki’s guitar screeched and she proclaimed in heavy metal style that she had just become life mates with the Imposter. Makoto had shot up to the ceiling in fright, possible given his bunny agility, and he had soil in his hair for days afterwards.

Oh, and one time, he almost asked her in the gymnasium when a bunny in another class called Tenko accused him of being up to no good and tried to chop him with her bare hand, and he thought he only survived the encounter because Kyouko had been able to trip Tenko up. Then another bunny called Mahiru apologised on Tenko’s behalf and dragged the other bunny away, muttering about how Tenko had promised to tone it down after they became life mates, and Makoto forgot all about asking Kyouko.

And there was that time they ate lunch together, alone, and he had been about to ask her to be his life mate, honest, but he lost himself in her wide eyes and asked if she would go jumping with him instead.

Then there was the big rabbit dropping in the room: despite all that time they spent together, and how much he enjoyed it and she seemed to, he didn’t actually completely know for absolute sure if Kyouko wanted to be life mates. The most he could extract from her were glimpses of smiles and fleeting looks when he thought she thought he wasn’t noticing.

Kyouko Kirigiri was incredibly cool. She was intelligent, elegant and graceful, and she was beautiful with purple ears the same colour as her eyes. She was a detective, a loner, but one with people’s best interests at heart. Asocial, perhaps, but not anti-social. Meanwhile, Makoto was a bunny person with green ears that matched his sleeveless hoodie and two left feet.

Sayaka and Leon peered at him unyieldingly. Makoto cringed.

“But something always goes wrong,” explained Makoto. The other two exchanged puzzled looks before fixing their eyes on him again.

“You’re supposed to be the Bunny of Good Luck, aren’t you?” said Leon, scratching the back of his head. “How can you have such stinking trouble?”

Makoto wished he could answer. Leon folded his arms over his chest.

“I asked Maizono-chan in the form of a song,” said Leon. “I spent ages going over it again and again until I perfected it. And when I sang, I poured my heart out, but like, I was totally cool when I did it.”

“You were!” Sayaka piped up with a wide grin. “And I wouldn’t let you sing it to me until you improved your grades. I had the feeling you wanted to ask me to become your life mate, but I could only accept if you showed you were committed and hard-working.”

“And I did!” Leon crowed, throwing up a fist. “And that’s how I landed a total cutie like you!”

Sayaka blushed and twirled some hair around her finger. As touching as this was, though, it didn’t help Makoto with his dilemma.

“Thanks, you two,” Makoto said anyway, and he stood up. The other two turned to him, and he forced himself to smile. “I guess I’ll just have to keep trying, won’t I?”

“That’s the spirit!” Leon said with a thumbs up.

“Yeah, I hope things work out for you,” added Sayaka.

Before Makoto could reply, someone else cut in, “You can’t depend on ‘hope’ to make something happen.”

The voice didn’t belong to Sayaka, nor did it belong to Makoto or Leon. They turned toward the source of it and spotted Byakuya, standing nearby with his royal blue ears formal and rigid. His eyes narrowed behind white-framed glasses. Combined with his dark waistcoat, green-cross tie and suit trousers and polished shoes, one could mistake him for royalty. In a way, this was true: he was the heir to a huge financial conglomerate.

Moments later, someone else poked their head out into view beside him. With her circular glasses and long, twin, purple braids, Touko’s appearance screamed ‘the bookish type’. It was hard to see from where they stood, but her outfit incorporated a long ruffle skirt open at the front so her leotard and dark red tights could be seen clearly, and her skirt wasn’t long enough to hide her high heels.

Her fuschia ears shuddered as she chimed in, thrashing her fists passionately in front of her. “My darling’s right! Twiddling your thumbs or a carrot between your legs w-won’t win Kirigiri’s heart!”

Makoto squirmed and raised his hands defensively. “It’s not that easy...!”

“Why not? You just need to go ask her,” said Byakuya like it was that simple.

“Before someone else does!” added Touko, jabbing the air with one finger, and Makoto’s brow creased.

“Someone else...?” he repeated, mostly to himself.

Byakuya checked his wristwatch, then pushed up his glasses. 

“As much as I know you need someone to kick you from behind all the way up to wherever Kirigiri is and force your mouth to open and close, I have other things to do,” said Byakuya, and with that, he lifted his chin higher and strode off.

Touko caught up to him quickly, pressing close, and Makoto thought he glimpsed their hands come together. He didn’t dwell on it for long though. Not when there were more pressing matters afoot.

Leon stared after them. “Damn, they really laid it on thick, huh?”

Makoto clenched his fists.

“It was nice talking to you guys,” he said quietly. Quietly, but not weakly. Sayaka and Leon turned to him, and Makoto set off in another direction abruptly.

“Huh?” went Leon, blinking, while Sayaka watched with a knowing look on her face.

As Makoto marched on, his heart beat furiously and he let that fuel him, push him forward no matter how heavy each footstep felt. Touko’s remark echoed in the back of his head. This hadn’t occurred to him until now, but for every second Kyouko wasn’t his life mate, someone else had the opportunity to ask her instead. If that happened, he couldn’t do anything about it except respect her choice, but he knew he would regret never at least asking her for the rest of his life. There would always be what ifs and maybes, and he really, really liked her.

He climbed the hill where the entrance to the warren was, consisting of a network of tunnels that led to each student’s living quarters. Despite the hill’s outward appearance, on the inside, it was very much like a regular building with walls and doors and everything.

“Would you... be my life mate?” Makoto mumbled, practicing, and he arrived at the top of the hill. 

There, he entered the hill and made his way toward Kyouko’s burrow. Makoto continued rehearsing what he was going to say.

“Will you be my life mate?” He turned into another tunnel. No, that sounded too forward. “Would you please like to be my life mate?”

But that seemed too timorous. Makoto needed to be more confident. He needed to show Kyouko he had never been more sure of himself.

“I really like you. I think you’re amazing,” he said, digging his nails into his palms. His lips were dry. “Whenever we’re together, it feels like I’m in a tornado, which sounds scary, but because it’s with you, I feel... I feel unstoppable.”

He emerged into the next corridor, walking faster.

“You’re smart, confident and most of all, you make me feel good. Happy. And I like to think I do the same back to you. With you by my side as we encourage and support each other... I think we would be a great match. Therefore...”

Makoto stopped and screwed up his eyes. He could do this.

“... would you like to be my life mate?” he blurted into the corridor.

Silence bared itself to him. His face burned. Kyouko wasn’t even there, yet he could hardly breathe after that confession. He gulped, and the noise echoed in his head. Static crackled in his ears. It took all that effort to just say it to thin air...

Well, what he thought was thin air.

“W-What?” said Aoi, in front of him. Makoto jerked back and yelped, flailing his arms.

“Asahina-san!”

It was definitely her, wearing her blue one piece swimsuit and lightly striped stockings. White and... green? He thought. One had to be up close to tell for sure.

“Wow, Naegi. This is so sudden!” Aoi covered her mouth with one hand over the other. Her blue ears straightened.

Makoto regained his balance and reached toward her. “Asahina-san, I...”

“I didn’t know you felt that way about me.”

“Asahina-san.”

“I mean, I like you too, but not like that...”

“Asahina-san...”

“... you’ve really taken me off-guard...”

“Asahi-”

“... I’m already life mates with Sakura-chan, and she’d bend you like a pretzel if you tried...”

“I wasn’t asking you!” he burst out, shaking his fists.

Aoi froze. Her eyes darted about before settling back on him.

“Then who...?” She frowned.

“I was trying to figure out...” His tongue caught on his teeth and he shook his head. “Never mind.”

“Aw, come on. Tell me!”

Her stare clutched him like a hand around his neck. He wiggled uncomfortably.

“I was trying to think how to ask K-someone to be my life mate,” he explained, and even though he admitted that much to her, Aoi didn’t ease up.

“Oh! So you were talking to yourself?” she asked.

He rubbed the back of his neck, cringing. “Technically, yeah...”

“That makes way more sense,” she said, cupping her chin. Then she broke into a huge smile. “Aw, that’s cute! Were you on your way to ask Kirigiri-san right now?”

Makoto didn’t think he mentioned any names. No, he definitely hadn’t. He almost had, but he hadn’t. 

“I... um...” His voice shrunk with every syllable. He fumbled. “I mean... I’m going to my room, and...”

Aoi swooped down on him before he could say anything else. Her red trainers smacked loudly against the ground. Makoto nearly screamed.

“You are most certainly not!” she huffed, her hands on her hips. If she leaned any closer, she would have bumped her head against him and he would have tipped backward onto the ground. “You listen here, Makoto Naegi, you are going to go straight up to Kirigiri-chan and say - ”

She put on a lower voice that sounded absolutely nothing like Makoto and mimed guns with her hands.

“ - hey, cutie, would you do me the honour of being your life mate?”

If the ground could swallow Makoto up right now, he would have dived in headfirst. Instead, he smothered himself with his hands. Aoi carried on talking, but she put on her normal voice at least.

“I invited Kirigiri-chan to join me and some of the others for some carrot cake, but she told me she had some errands to run and I saw her heading toward Strawberry Fields,” Aoi told him. She grasped his shoulders and stared into his eyes. “So I think that has to be where she is now. You’ve gotta go!”

“I...”

Aoi began shaking him.

“You’ve gotta go!” she said more firmly.

“R-Right!” Makoto said.

“And don’t chicken out and ask her to go jumping with you instead!”

“I’ve... I’ve got it!”

She stopped shaking him and squeezed his shoulders.

“Just say what you said to yourself a minute ago, and it’ll go perfectly,” Aoi reassured him, lowering her voice, and when she smiled, he smiled back.

“Okay,” he promised, chest fluttering nervously. “I’ll... I’ll go now then...!”

Aoi released him. He took a few paces back, and then, rather than trek deeper into the warren, he turned around and headed for the entrance.

“Oh, and make sure to give her a rose in vitro too!” she called after him. Makoto glanced back, and she winked. “Trust me!”

Mustering up a grin, Makoto waved and started for his next destination.

* * *

‘In vitro’ meant ‘within the glass’ in Latin, so a rose in vitro referred to a rose contained within a glass container. Depending on the colour of the rose, receiving it as a gift meant different things. Makoto didn’t know most of the meanings, but he knew red roses symbolised passionate love. He also knew just where to obtain one of these, so before he sought out Kyouko, he went there first.

Not because he was still nervous.

Instead of going to a garden, greenhouse or laboratory, against his better judgement, he had slipped into an alley behind the hutches where a cloaked figure resided, their lime green ears poking out from under the hood.

In a raspy voice, the cloaked figure asked, “What business do you have here?”

“I want to buy a rose in vitro,” said Makoto.

A beat passed. Then the cloaked figure removed the hood, revealing the beaming face of a Yasuhiro Hagakure.

“Naegi-chi! You’ve come to the right place, ‘right?” said Yasuhiro. He turned around, rummaged, and when he faced Makoto again, Yasuhiro wore a tray strapped to him with ropes. 

Various trinkets sat on the tray.

“You want anything else?” asked Yasuhiro, motioning to the tray. “A zoles diamond ring? Roller slippers? Sand God's Storm Horn?”

The last thing seemed to be a broken yellow horn from a creature of some kind. Makoto studied it for a few moments before looking up.

“No thanks,” he told Yasuhiro. “Just the rose in vitro, please.”

Yasuhiro plucked it off the tray but didn’t give it over yet, flourishing it with a lopsided grin.

“Do you want me to wrap it for you?” asked Yasuhiro. 

Makoto considered it.

“For a small fee, of course,” Yasuhiro tacked on.

Ah.

“No thanks,” said Makoto. “How much will this cost?”

Yasuhiro gave the amount. Makoto got out his wallet from his shorts pocket and rifled through it, picking out notes until he had the right amount. He handed them to Yasuhiro, who exchanged the test tube for the money and leafed through the notes to make sure that Makoto had given him enough.

“Awesome!” Yasuhiro said once he did that, and he stowed the money in his jacket pocket. Like the others who didn’t wear leotards, his chest was exposed, and it puffed out as he twitched his hand. “Nice doing business with ya.”

“No problem,” said Makoto and he turned away.

He had taken no more than four steps when Yasuhiro shouted, “Good luck with Kirigiri-chi! Don’t go asking her to just go jumping with you!”

Once. That had happened once. Makoto squawked and tripped over his feet. His head hit the ground, and it throbbed as he lay on his stomach. Remembering the test tube containing the rose, he raised his head sharply, his heart in his mouth.

Fortunately, it hadn’t broken during his fall. He stood up shakily, dusted off his knees and sighed. It seemed like everyone knew about him and Kyouko...

The first time he met Kyouko, he had been sprinting up a set of steps and Kyouko had been descending the same flight. Overhead, in a clear blue sky, the Sun had been shining. Makoto was trying to find his homeroom and somehow, neither saw the other coming until they slammed into each other. Whatever happened next was blinded with white, but the next thing he knew, Kyouko had landed gracefully at the bottom of the steps with him in her arms.

Bunny people possessed great agility and really, he ought to have saved himself, but he seemed to lack the dexterity that practically everyone else had and without her, he would have become a splatter on the grass.

Yes, he had been mortified. Moreso when he realised they would be in the same class. But at the same time, he was in awe of her, the cool bunny girl who saved him from injury. Ever since that encounter, they spent more time together, and now he cradled a test tube in his hands and trembled even as he emerged onto Strawberry Fields. Makoto shielded his eyes from the Sun with one hand and surveyed the area. On first glance, he couldn’t spot her, so he started his search. 

Strawberry Fields consisted of five fields, so if Kyouko was lurking here, he didn’t think it would take him long to locate her. 

And indeed, in the second field he scoped out, he caught sight of a purple fleck in the distance that stood out amongst the greenery. 

He kept his distance initially, his heart singing in anticipation. The fleck was definitely Kyouko. Her long lavender hair, purple ears and matching leotard were imprinted onto the forefront of his mind. She had her back to him as she knelt beside a tree. Between him and her, strawberry plants striped the field, alternating with pathways floored with hay.

Kyouko didn’t stir. Perhaps she hadn’t noticed him. Perhaps Kyouko, with incredible hearing and awareness, hadn’t noticed the arrival of the clumsiest bunny person in the whole school. This could have been an opportunity for him to creep away with her none the wiser, but he couldn’t. Not after Aoi and Yasuhiro’s support. And as harsh as Byakuya and Touko had been, they had in their own way of doing things encouraged him too. If he left, he wouldn’t just be doing a disservice to himself, but to them too.

Therefore, after he took a deep breath, he made a beeline for Kyouko. She grew in her vision. His heart swelled in his chest. Yet, he kept going. He kept going.

When he was a few rows of strawberries away from her, she stood up suddenly. Makoto froze. 

“You - ” she started, turning around, but when she saw him, she paused. From moving, from breathing, from everything.

The harsh line in her brow dissolved, and her hard eyes softened.

“Naegi-kun,” she said, calmer. Her pale face coloured and she combed gloved fingers through her hair, looking away. “It’s you...”

He fidgeted with the tube absent-mindedly.

“S-Sorry,” he said. “Did I scare you?”

“I knew someone was nearby, but I didn’t realise it was you.” She gave a small smile. “Seeing that it is you, however... I know I’m in no danger.”

Warmth surfaced in his cheeks. He toyed with the test tube and the corners of his lips curled upward. Kyouko’s eyes flickered as she became distracted by something.

Makoto shifted, wondering what claimed her attention, before following her gaze to the test tube and remembering his whole reason for obtaining it.

“Ah, I got this for you,” he said with an edge of nervous laughter. He held it out. 

She tilted her head and approached. Her eyebrows rose.

“Is that...?” she asked, trailing off.

“Yeah,” he said. “I got it for you.”

Kyouko brought her arm forward. Their hands brushed together as she took it from him, shooting a spark of electricity through him that suspended his breathing for a second. He could still feel the aftermath cold in his arms as she examined the test tube in her hand, her lips pursing in curiosity.

“May I ask why you got this for me?” she asked.

“It’s a gift,” he said. “I... um, thought you would like it.”

She hollowed her cheeks, trying not to break into a grin.

“Thank you. I do,” she said, and she inspected it for a while longer. The rose within it was red. A few of its petals pressed against the glass. Makoto watched as she turned away and dropped to one knee to place the test tube carefully next to the nearby tree.

Though the rose in vitro left her hands, she didn’t get up. At least, not yet.

“Naegi-kun...” His name quivered on her lips. Sent tingles down his back. “It’s not my birthday, so why have you given me this gift out of the blue?”

Makoto’s mouth was dry.

“Could it be...?” she said, even quieter, and she twisted around. Stared at him. Without breaking eye contact, she straightened up, her arms hanging downward with her hands balled into fists at her thighs. 

Her whole outfit could be seen now. High heeled boots almost reached her knees and her gloves passed her elbows. Feeling his cheeks prickle, Makoto wrested his gaze downward from her face, landing it on the red tie resting over her chest.

That was enough to set him alight. Makoto went lower, to her thighs and the area between. Such a sight made him hyper aware of how furiously his heart was pumping, and he scolded himself for being a pervert. He drew his eyes up to her face again. There, he felt himself get sucked in. By her eyes, her lips, her everything.

“Kirigiri-san,” he said. The soliloquy he spoke in the warren before flew through his mind, swirling around him. He could do this. He did this earlier. All he had to do was say exactly what he said before, only with her listening this time.

With her there. With him. There. Kyouko held her breath, waiting for his response. Makoto didn’t see her blink.

“Would you...” He inhaled. His stomach lurched, like he missed a step, and he said, “... would you... go jumping with me?” 

In a tiny voice. 

A metaphorical curtain dropped over her features, which became blank. Unreadable.

“Sure,” she said, deadpan. 

Makoto wanted someone to strike him with lightning, but the universe refused to spare him from his embarrassment. Without another word, Kyouko bent her legs and leapt forward, soaring high through the air before landing further away. His mouth hung open as he marvelled how effortlessly she seemed to bound, and she took flight again with another jump.

With every bounce, Kyouko shrunk more and more in his vision, and he would have stood there longer had Byakuya’s and Touko’s voices not wafted through his mind.

“You just need to go ask her.” “Before someone else does.”

He flung up a hand with a jolt.

“Wait for me, Kirigiri-san!” he shouted. She glanced back, but when her feet met the ground again, she sprung up and turned her head forward.

Makoto steeled himself and set off. First, he walked after her, but as determination rushed in his head like a waterfall, he began jogging, and then, fuelled by adrenaline building in him, he sprinted and with a kick against the ground, sent himself hurling into the sky.

For many bunny people, to go ‘jumping’ was a favourite pastime of theirs with a great many benefits. It could provide an outlet for extreme emotions. Be a way of spending time with someone. Exercising. 

The wind whipped his face, slamming against him like a stop sign, but he didn’t back down. His limbs screamed, already burning with exertion, but pushing through it caused him to catch up to Kyouko. She didn’t say anything, though Makoto suspected she knew of his presence closing in, because she sped up. Whenever she returned to the air, explosions of dust and clumps of dirt marked where she had momentarily been grounded.

He choked on strangled gasps as he kept up with her. Kyouko made it look so easy, her body streamlined, movements fluid, while his body threatened to collapse in on itself and shut down.

That was what it felt like when his stomach cramped.

“Ah, cramp!” he said, tensing. His body started somersaulting, and as much as he thrashed his arms, he couldn’t stop himself from tipping forward. 

Colours blurred past, and if he had been capable of thought in those seconds of panic, he would have expected to smash into the ground and become a splatter on the grass.

But instead, the next thing he knew, he was being cradled in Kyouko’s arms, reminiscent of their first meeting.

“K-Kirigiri-san...” he murmured. The wind wailed, but her bunny ears fluttered and she looked down. She had heard him.

He knew what he had to say to Kyouko, who saved him, not just now but before. Who stood by his side, who he trusted with his everything, his dear, close, precious friend... the person who he so very badly wanted to be the life mate of.

“Would you...?” he managed.

Kyouko cocked her head, staring down at him, and it was like she flicked a switch. Be it that Makoto pulled her closer or that he happened to be jogged up, before he could think, with the wind blowing all around him, his lips pressed into hers.

No, that was not totally true. While yes, he did that, after only a small delay, she leaned in too. As they locked into a kiss, their bodies seemed to move on their own. He unfurled from her arms and gripped one of her wrists, his other hand clutching her shoulder. Meanwhile, Kyouko placed her free hand on his waist, and the two spun slowly as they gradually descended from the sky.

The movements and placements didn’t matter though. As they landed, with Kyouko subconsciously leading the way, all he could think of were her soft lips and the heat that flooded through him from his chest. When he could feel the ground under both his feet, the squirming knot of energy in his chest dissolved, and as their lips receded, he finally breathed.

Aftershocks still pulsed in him. Kyouko gazed back, equally as dazed. Her face had never been as pink as this, and her shoulders heaved as she caught her breath.

“Naegi-kun,” she whispered. “I...”

She didn’t finish her sentence and gulped.

He had to say it.

He had to.

Right now.

“Kirigiri-san,” he said, wobbly on his feet, but they still had a hold on each other. In the back of his head, he could see his classmates’ faces. “Would you like to be my l-”

Kyouko tensed, and he cut himself off. While the blotches of colour in her cheeks didn’t fade, her eyes were sharp and focused... but not on him. She slipped her hands to the front of his shoulders and gently pushed. He let go of her.

“Excuse me, Naegi-kun,” she apologised, and she dodged past him. Makoto turned. His eyes lowered, then he saw what she must have seen and gagged on his breath.

Nearby, something red streaked the grass. Something that was undeniably blood. Kyouko squatted down beside it and traced over it with her index finger. By now, her expression had hardened, and he knew she was in detective mode. 

She investigated the blood some more before standing up, and she didn’t look back or say anything as she walked away.

Of course something went wrong. Of course. Makoto had been about to ask her to be his life mate, so of course something went wrong. He thawed from his frozen state and forced himself to follow after her, in the direction of the dormitories. Maybe the universe really was determined for them not to become life mates. His heart and eyes ached, but he didn’t acknowledge them, continuing forward despite the heaviness in his chest.

Then Kyouko stopped abruptly. She hesitated and turned back.

“Naegi-kun,” she said, and he drew to a halt. Her voice was hushed. Her eyes were trained on him. “I apologise for the sudden departure, but this is something I must deal with right away. And I know this is asking a lot from you, but would you care to assist me on my investigation? I would appreciate having you by my side.”

A gust of wind blew past. Makoto didn’t answer at first. Then, he smiled slightly, and he nodded.

“I would love to,” he said. “I would love to help in any way I can.”

And then she grinned as well, and the two resumed the long trek across the fields together.

This was good too.

Being with Kyouko regardless made him feel happy.

Besides, maybe after she solved this mystery, he could ask her to be his life mate.

Right?

* * *

In a dark room in one of Hope’s Peak’s hills, a bunny girl put on her bunny ears, one black, one white. They matched her leotard, half white, half black, divided down the middle, and went together with her odd coloured gloves, tights and boots. All together, her outfit was reminiscent of a section of a chessboard, save perhaps for the black choker fastened around her neck due to the single red lightning shape branded onto it.

“Upupupu,” she went. Her eyes glinted blue as a toothy smile consumed her face, and with a singsong lilt, she said to herself, “Little Bunny Foo Foo, hopping through the forest. Scooping up the other bunnies and chopping off their heads...!”

She burst out laughing, her strawberry blonde pigtails writhing, and she hugged herself as her voice filled the room.


	2. Chapter 2

The blood Kyouko discovered led toward the school and turned out not to be confined to a single streak. They passed by more similar marks that made Makoto’s stomach clench as they followed them. Now, he was no detective, not like Kyouko, but even Makoto could deduce that the blood seemed to be part of a trail that, hopefully, would lead to whoever it belonged to and that person would still be alive.

His heartbeat hammered between his actual ears all the way across the fields, and when they arrived at the fence separating the school grounds from the neighbouring fields, the blood trail ended.

Kyouko squatted down, frowning. Makoto stood behind her, craning his neck as he tried to see what she saw. No... more specifically, tried to see how Kyouko saw what she saw.

Which, when his mind kept unhelpfully replaying their kiss, was easier said than done. 

“There,” she said, pointing upward. 

Caught in the wire mesh fence was what, after she freed it, was revealed to be a handkerchief. She held it out so Makoto could have a better look.

He didn’t touch. His brow furrowed as he studied it. The handkerchief was white, and on first glance, plain, but when Kyouko unfolded it, they noticed in one corner was art of an anime girl. In gold writing beneath the artwork, text stated, ‘LIMITED EDITION’.

“Do you think this belongs to whoever’s blood this is?” Makoto asked her.

She whipped a finger up to her lips, signalling for silence, and he swallowed, holding his breath.

“Perhaps,” Kyouko whispered, and she examined it for a few more seconds before adding, “I don’t have any pockets, so if you would...”

Makoto nodded and took it from her, storing it in his hoodie pocket. After he put the handkerchief away, he didn’t pull his hand out immediately, biting his lip.

“Who would do such a thing?” he murmured, not particularly to her but as a vocalised thought.

Kyouko tensed. For a moment, her mask cracked, and Makoto glimpsed something in her face. It quivered like the ripples from a stone just dropped into a still body of water. Unease? Fear?

Then she had her icy exterior in place again, and she set her hand onto his shoulder. 

“We mustn’t linger,” she told him in a hushed tone. “We’re in the middle of an active crime scene. What has happened... has happened, but I promise I will not let harm fall upon you. You are safe with me.”

Makoto stared back at her, at her purple eyes, and felt his chest contact. Sure, he was scared, but he was more concerned about her getting in over her head, especially if she was by herself. 

Therefore, he knew he couldn’t back out now. Kyouko pushed out a smile and waved a hand, gesturing for him to follow. They slipped through the nearest gate and walked slowly down the path ahead of them.

“Um... Kirigiri-san,” he said, rubbing his elbow. “About earlier... when we kissed, I...”

She held up her palm. “Save it for later, please. We can’t afford to lose focus... and I understand. You got caught up in the moment.”

“Right. Sorry...” Well, it wasn’t exactly right, but he resolved to explain later. He leaned his head closer to hers and changed the subject. “Do you think the handkerchief is Yamada-kun’s? He collects rare anime merchandise.”

“It could be. Or he could have given it to someone else,” she said vaguely, and they were about to go around the corner when Kyouko thrust her arm out in front of Makoto, creating a barrier that he couldn’t walk through.

Her bunny ears twitched. He stepped into her arm before backing up a bit, and then he heard some chattering that seemed to originate from around the next corner. She grabbed his arm and wrenched him back with her.

“You dumb-dumb! Mitarai-kun nearly made it all the way back to the school.” This voice belonged to Junko Enoshima, one of their classmates. “If he managed to get to Sakakura or someone in his security team, or Headmaster Bunny Kirigiri, all my plans would have been for squat!”

Junko paused to let out a weird laugh that rumbled, that sent shivers through Makoto, but she seemed to quickly compose herself.

“Your job is to make sure he doesn’t escape. And feed me grapes, but that’s it,” she continued scalding.

A much quieter voice piped up, “He’s so frail, I didn’t think he’d be able to escape the prison...”

That was Mukuro, Junko’s twin sister.

“Dumb-dumb!” Apparently, though they barely heard anything, Junko rapped her knuckles against Mukuro’s head, because she went onto say, “Just as I expected, your head is hollow. It’s a  _ studio _ . He’s working on my super top ultra secret animation project in his  _ studio _ that I’ve confined him in.”

This sounded awfully like a prison.

“Does this mean the plan is going to be delayed?” asked Mukuro meekly.

“Yes, it does,” snapped Junko. “And it’s all your fault for letting him escape.”

“I didn’t let him...”

“And now I’ll have to tell our dear ally about your stinky cock up... What a pain!”

The rather one-sided bickering session began to quieten, and hearing footsteps, Makoto realised this was because they were getting further away. Makoto didn’t move, the gears in his brain spinning as he processed what he just heard. Well... as he tried to. He recognised the name of the guy they referred to. Ryouta Mitarai was in another class at the school, attending as the Bunny of Animation: a scrawny guy with pale brown hair, yellow eyes and drooping olive green ears, best friends with the Imposter Bunny in his class. Thinking more about it, Makoto couldn’t remember when he had last seen Ryouta...

Without warning, Kyouko darted forward to peek around the corner. Makoto yelped and chased after her. Just as he reached her, she sprinted off. He twitched and stumbled after her.

Kyouko hadn’t gone far, thankfully. She looked both ways and then slunk over to the bottom of the hill with the biology labs in it, and she didn’t take her gaze off it, not even as Makoto sidled up to her.

“In there,” she said quietly. “I saw them... go in there...”

Her fists balled tightly, and she climbed to the top of the hill where a hatch would lead them inside. Makoto managed to catch up to her while she was still on the outside.

“Where are you going?” he asked, like it wasn’t obvious. Kyouko opened the hatch and dropped inside. He landed beside her shortly after. It was the weekend, which meant no classes were happening, so he wasn’t surprised to not see anyone else.

Junko’s voice echoed down the corridor to their left.

“Let’s go check on him right now,” chirped Junko. “Ah, that secret tunnel is so helpful! It would be even more secret if we didn’t have put that ugly poster over the invisible button, but you know. You’re a moron.”

A grim cloud gathered over Kyouko’s features. She strode stiffly in the direction of Junko’s voice. Makoto kept up beside her.

“Maybe... Maybe this is a big misunderstanding,” said Makoto, keeping his voice low. “Enoshima-san can be a bit weird at times, but she wouldn’t kidnap someone like that.”

“Naegi-kun.” Kyouko kept her eyes trained forward. “For some time, I’ve known there was something foul happening at Hope’s Peak, and hearing Enoshima-san divulge her plan like that confirms my suspicions. I thought she and her sister were up to something... everything is falling into place now. I just need to find out where they’re going and get evidence. Then... as much as I loathe to... I can show my father.”

“But - ”

A door shut in the next corridor. She squared her shoulders.

“You’re too trusting. You’re just like my father,” she said, and that admission was the lightning strike. Before he could look at her face for any longer, she zipped ahead.

Neither spoke as Kyouko peered down the next corridor. Makoto arrived beside her and did too. There were four doors to check here. Four rooms. She waited. Probably to give Junko and Mukuro an opportunity to use the secret tunnel. Once a good half minute had elapsed, Kyouko opened the first door and peered inside.

To Makoto, it just looked like an ordinary school lab. Kyouko investigated behind the few posters inside. She didn’t find what she wanted and left.

“How will you know where it is?” he asked as she shut the door behind her.

“They mentioned an invisible button,” she replied, and she took a few steps away from him. “We just have to locate it, and then we’ll be able to gather all the evidence we need.”

Makoto held back his exasperation and said, “Even if it’s true, isn’t it dangerous?”

Kyouko stayed still.

“It is,” she conceded with her back to him. “But if you spend all your time trying to avoid danger, you'll never move forward. If that risk means solving the mystery, then so be it."

“But - ”

She turned to him sharply. His voice died in his throat.

“Naegi-kun,” she said. “Trust me.”

Makoto stared back at her. She didn’t waver. He nodded.

Kyouko opened the next door slowly and gave the room a quick look over before she ventured inside. This time, Makoto crept in with her, and he watched as she examined the posters in the room.

“Could they really have hidden a secret passage?” he asked aloud.

She didn’t answer and pressed her palm against a poster. Her hand sank in. Her eyes widened.

The idea of a secret button and a secret tunnel brought about images of a trapdoor opening or a bookcase rotating. However, a secret door didn’t reveal itself. None of the walls opened up either. No. Instead, a loud hiss filled the air, and purple gas began spurting out from the air vents. Makoto jumped. Kyouko gasped.

“We need to get out of here!” she shouted. She ran to the door, but to their horror, no matter how hard she pulled on the handle and slammed herself against it, the door wouldn’t open.

They coughed, the gas tickling their throats. Makoto swayed, then collapsed. Kyouko limped over to him, spluttering, her body sagging more and more with every step, and as Makoto lost consciousness, the last thing he saw was Kyouko stretching her hand out until darkness consumed them both.

* * *

When Kyouko awoke, she found herself not on the ground like she last remembered, but tied to a wooden chair in what appeared to be a dimly lit bedroom. She jerked her body, but the ropes binding her wouldn’t relent. That didn’t stop her from trying again though. And again and again and again.

As she struggled, more memories filtered in. Kyouko had been investigating a bio lab, and purple gas pumped in that must have knocked them unconscious. Herself, and Makoto...

She tensed. Makoto. 

“Naegi-kun?” she asked to no reply, and looking around, she couldn’t see him either. Her teeth gritted.

Letting him tag along had been dangerous. Foolish. When they started this investigation, she promised herself she would protect him no matter what. But she had been so determined to crack this case, she was willing to risk their well-being... and truth be told, with Makoto by her side, the nervous stirring in her chest had felt easier to ignore. 

Though she hid her emotions, that didn’t mean she didn’t have any.

Maybe that was selfish of her.

It probably was.

She couldn’t change the past but she could influence the future, so Kyouko tried to break free of her bindings again. The legs of her chair scraped against the floor. Ropes dug into her. Like before, she couldn’t escape.

“You’re already trying to leave?” asked someone who was not Kyouko. “Without even saying hello?”

Kyouko froze. Her eyes scanned the room and landed on Junko, who had been waiting and watching from the shadows. A wide grin dominated Junko’s face and she had her hands confidently on her leotard-clad hips. Junko wore a checkered black and white outfit, with a black choker on her neck that had a red jagged line on the front.

The longer Kyouko stared at Junko’s choker, the more she felt that it was like a narrowed eye staring back at her, so with a chill down her back, she drew her gaze up to Junko’s face.

“I can’t believe you fell for it,” said Junko. She raised a hand and faked laughter behind it, like some kind of anime villain. “Did it occur to you that, like, I expounded everything like that on purpose?”

Kyouko didn’t answer. Junko snorted.

“You dumby dumb dumb with a cottonball on your bum, why would I place a button to a secret tunnel in such a dangerous place?” scoffed Junko. “Hope’s Peak does have secret tunnels, but that button doesn’t activate any. It never did. I actually set up that trap earlier today, just for you.”

Kyouko didn’t answer. Junko’s smile grew.

“You were so stubborn about solving this mystery, you didn’t think and now look what has happened! I mean, I’m not complaining, but your carelessness put you and your pal in danger.”

Kyouko’s eyebrows lifted a telltale amount, and Junko smirked.

“Where is he?” asked Kyouko. 

Junko examined her nails.

“I never liked him,” drawled Junko. “So, you know, I killed him.”

Instinctively, Kyouko inhaled sharply. She felt a twinge in her chest, but as she stared at Junko, who pressed her lips together, fighting back a smile, and as she saw how Junko’s eyes glimmered as she waited for a response, the pain in Kyouko’s chest crumbled away.

“You didn’t,” Kyouko said, breathing slightly easier. “I know how you tick. You would have killed him in front of me so you could watch the despair on my face.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I do.”

“Nuh uh.”

Kyouko didn’t answer. Junko maintained her stern expression a bit longer, then she pouted and rolled her head back as she groaned.

“For someone whose face is always like a statue, you can sure read people really well. Yes, he’s not dead yet,” said Junko. Her head tipped forward. “That other guy enrolled here as a detective bunny, you know, the one dressed in black pinstripe with the dumb hat, he has nothing on you! You’re kind of right. You are going to see him die, but I’m not going to be the one who kills him.”

Junko walked behind Kyouko and shunted the chair forward, pushing Kyouko closer to a desk that had a computer set up on it. Once Kyouko was tucked in, Junko positioned herself beside the desk and turned the monitor on.

Colours swirled on the screen. Kyouko’s breathing hitched. Just the sight of it filled her dread. The longer she looked at it, the more her head spun. The more the room seemed to tilt. The lighter she felt, like she was tipping over with the room. The less she could think, as static noise filled her head.

“Like it? It’s only half done... If Mitarai-kun stopped crying and trying to escape all the time, it would probably be done by now,” said Junko, sounding further away than she was, right in front of Kyouko. She patted the top of the monitor. “But for now, it’ll do.”

The intensity of the colours raked across Kyouko’s brain like fingers. Kyouko could feel it sucking her in and while she was still conscious, she thrashed her body and shut her eyes. Moments after, she felt hands on her face, and Junko peeled Kyouko’s eyes open, forcing her to watch it. She struggled some more, but eventually, Kyouko stopped moving. 

She stopped, fullstop.

Once Kyouko was motionless, Junko turned the monitor off and studied Kyouko. Her purple eyes now glowed blue, like a clear sky in summer. 

Junko stooped down and hovered her face in front of Kyouko’s. Their noses almost touched, but Kyouko didn’t flinch.

Kyouko didn’t answer.

“Kirigiri-san, you will obey me now,” said Junko.

And then,

“I will obey Enoshima-san,” said Kyouko in a dull tone.

Junko straightened up and burst out laughing, clutching her stomach.

“Awesome! This is awesome! Oh, so many otakus would kill to see this!” she said. “Now say Danganronpa in that robotic voice. You know the one.”

“Danganronpa.”

Junko’s laughter was loud enough to rattle the monitor.

* * *

Meanwhile, Makoto had regained consciousness on a cold floor in a dark room. At first, he assumed he woke up where he had passed out, just later, but then he tried to move only to find himself tied up with rope, and he realised this room didn’t have any windows.

The bio lab had one.

All light came from the gentle glow of ceiling lamps. Makoto could make out the outlines of broken desks and upturned chairs, but not much else. 

When the fog in his brain cleared, he remembered he hadn’t been alone. He jolted.

“Kirigiri-san?” he called out.

“Wrong,” a voice wafted over.

Makoto flinched. Then he shifted as much as he could and spotted Mukuro, who was standing with her back against a wall, throwing a knife up and catching it repeatedly. Her eyes, as sharp as her blades, stared unblinkedly at him. She wore a navy blue leotard with black tights, navy blue bunny ears and blue combat boots appropriate for a soldier bunny like her.

A soldier bunny rumoured to have killed dozens of bunny people on the battlefield.

“Ikusaba-san?” he exclaimed. “What’s going on? Where’s Kirigiri-san?”

Her knife went up, then down.

He squirmed. That just made the ropes hug him tighter. 

“Ikusaba-san, help me,” he said. “I can’t... I can’t get up.”

Her knife went up, then down.

She did not try to help him. In fact, she didn’t stir at all, continuing to play with her knife, and the truth of reality began to set on Makoto, heavy and unrelenting.

“You... You and Enoshima-san...” Makoto shook. With fear. With anger. With a lot of things that tasted like bile. “You... You tricked us, didn’t you?”

Her knife went up, then down.

“Why are you doing this?” he asked, louder. “Where’s Kirigiri-san?”

Her knife went up, then down.

“With Junko-chan,” Mukuro told him.

“And why are you doing this?”

“I must help my sister,” she simply said.

“With what? Her plan to kidnap people?” asked Makoto. He shook his head. “Ikusaba-san, please... don’t do this. Can’t you see how messed up this all is? If you let us go now, I won’t tell anyone.”

Mukuro stopped throwing her knife. She gripped the handle harder.

“It will be worth it,” she said quietly. “With Junko-chan happy, and Kirigiri-san out of the way, we can...”

Her eyes glazed over - she had not been speaking to him, but to herself.

“Can what? What can we do?” said Makoto. He stared at her pleadingly, hoping to get through to the girl in his class who had flushed at one of his smiles and smiled back, who sang sweetly during a talent show and made half the class cry while a blonde pianist bunny played in the background.

A pause. Then her knife went up, and down.

With Mukuro seeming to not intend on helping him, Makoto could do little else than try to escape the ropes trapping him, as futile as that proved to be. When the door eventually opened, he was still writhing on the ground no closer to freedom than when he started. Hearing the door creak, a chill shot through him and he angled himself so he could see what was happening.

“Hi, hi!” greeted Junko. Her heels clicked the ground and she waved her arm as she strode forward. Makoto glimpsed someone behind her and strained his neck, trying to get a better view of them, which he only received after Junko stepped aside.

His eyes widened. He recognised that purple leotard and those bunny ears in an instant.

“K-Kirigiri-san!” he said. Relief rushed warmth through him. 

Kyouko didn’t reply, or even incline her head in acknowledgement. She just stood there, staring forward, accompanied by the two students who had kidnapped them, who were behind what Kyouko had spent who-knew-how-long investigating.

The corners of his lips slumped. He didn’t feel warm anymore.

“Kirigiri-san?” he said again, more unsure. As he studied her, he noticed the vacancy in her eyes, so different from the alertness that usually brimmed in her stare, and when Junko flicked a switch and lit up the room even more, he flinched.

Her eyes were blue now. They reminded him of sapphires. His brow creased and he mouthed her name.

Junko smirked and placed her hands onto her hips. She puffed out her chest. “You look like you heard a dog meow! Isn’t it obvious? Kirigiri-san is under my control! Completely brainbleached and my servant.”

Even though Junko explained what was wrong with Kyouko, his face still puckered with confusion. The words went in through one ear, got mangled together, and seeped out the other ear. Junko clutched her cheeks with delirious euphoria and wiggled her hips.

“It’s true! Completely and utterly true-le-o!” she cried out, rosy-faced. “It’s a cog in the grand scheme of things that will cause a tragedy the world will never see coming!”

He didn’t even glance at Junko, not even for a second. “Kirigiri-san?”

Kyouko didn’t respond.

Junko pouted and stopped shaking her hips. She pulled out a pair of glasses from seemingly nowhere and fixed them onto her nose. Her expression sobered.

“Ah, I forgot to mention,” she said in a faux British accent, “Kirigiri-san does not listen to short, dumb bunny people with stupid hair. Only to me, and I can get her to do whatever I want. Watch this.”

Lifting her chin, she clapped twice quickly.

“Kirigiri-san, hop on one leg,” she commanded.

Kyouko immediately obeyed, her features not thawing, not changing even by a flicker, as she started hopping on one leg. Makoto gawked at her. She looked absolutely ridiculous. Certain parts of her body jiggled as she bounced. His mouth hung open, and whatever he wanted to say dug painfully into the back of his throat instead.

Mukuro glowered at Kyouko. Junko watched with amusement. Terror caged Makoto’s body tightly, more than his bindings.

This couldn’t be happening.

But it was.

“You know,” Junko whipped off her glasses and showed her teeth with her smile, “I could even make her my life mate.”

Every nerve in Makoto’s body jumped, like from an electric shock. “No!” His vocalisation ripped through his throat. “Please don’t!”

That actually wiped the grin off Junko’s face. For a few seconds, she peered at him blankly, and Makoto found that just as bad as her smiles and simpers. Then, all at once, she tossed her head back and bellowed out laughter.

“This is delicious! When Hagakure-kun was taking bets on how long it’d take you guys, I was all, ‘What? No way’. But your dumb face tells me that you really aren’t life mates!”

Junko rolled her head forward and licked her lips. Makoto trembled. She turned to Kyouko.

“Kirigiri-san,” she sang, wringing her hands together. “Will you be my life mate? Pwease say yes.”

When Junko asked Kyouko to hop on one leg, Kyouko had obliged without missing a beat. However, now, she gave a pause. Tension quivered on her face. Makoto caught it, and even Junko frowned.

But then, 

“Yes, Enoshima-san,” said Kyouko.

“No!” Makoto yelled, but Junko grabbed Kyouko’s shoulders and turned Kyouko around so they faced each other. 

Her hands swam down Kyouko’s sides, to her waist, and a black gloved hand dipped lower, to Kyouko’s thigh. Makoto felt the disgust and revulsion that Kyouko would have felt had she been sentient, and he gagged as he shouted her name again.

Kyouko didn’t respond. Not then, and not as Junko leaned in, bringing her lips closer and closer to Kyouko’s.

“Stop it!” Makoto shouted. Horror burned his bulging eyes. He flailed his body, but the ropes kept squeezing him. “You can’t!”

By now, Junko’s lips hovered an inch from Kyouko’s. As soon as they kissed, the pact would be complete. They would be life mates for the rest of their lives.

The next few seconds dragged on, lasting minutes in Makoto’s head. Then Junko stepped back and snorted into a fit of giggles.

“Your face!” Junko pointed at Makoto. Her other hand slapped at her thigh. “You’re an idiot! That must be why Muku-Muku likes you so much!”

She withdrew her extended finger and wiped the corner of her eye.

“Don’t you know? In order for us to become life mates, both parties have to enter the pact willingly, so Kirigiri the Hypnotised can’t consent to it. Besides... I already have a life mate.” Junko folded her arms over her chest and tilted her head to one side, pulling a face. “Well... had.”

Makoto’s breathing rasped his raw throat. His body shook. He had always thought Junko was eccentric, but he thought her quirks extended no further than rearranging a stack of papers sorted into alphabetical order or tugging back someone’s chair just as they were about to sit down. Now, as much as he had shielded the candle flame in his heart, he couldn’t stop it extinguishing, not when confronted with the evidence and reality in front of him.

Humming under her breath, Junko walked over to him, bent down and cupped his chin.

“Get off me!” he snarled, recoiling, and she did. Junko straightened and stared down at him with amusement.

“Is the little bunny trying to be a wolf?” she mocked. “It’s like Muku-chan trying to say something smart.”

For a second time, Junko stooped down, though only to flick his nose. She stood up again after and turned away, waving a hand.

“You’re too predictable, Naegi-kun. If I cared, I’d wonder what Kirigiri-san sees in a boring person like you.”

Her heels tapped a rhythm as she continued to the door and opened it. But instead of leaving right away, she lingered.

“I think we’ll pay Headmaster Bunny Kirigiri a visit,” she mused. “Maybe he’ll take me seriously if I have his daughter with me. Come along, Kirigiri-san. Oh, and Muku-chan...”

Junko glanced back. Her face was empty. Of expression, of empathy, of anything.

“... Kill him,” said Junko. 

All that was said in the same casual tone. 

She left the room with Kyouko close behind her, and as the door shut, Mukuro pursed her lips, restraining a sigh that threatened to break her stony exterior and unleash an avalanche of emotion.

“If Junko-chan wants me to, I guess it can’t be helped,” she lamented, and despite her reluctance, she unsheathed a combat knife.

“I-Ikusaba-san,” Makoto choked out, unable to flee as Mukuro started toward him. He couldn’t even raise his arms as a flimsy shield or curl up into a ball. “Please. Please...”

Mukuro stopped in front of him.

“Please!”

She raised the knife.

Please... 

He screwed his eyes shut, peppered with sweat, as he prepared for his neck to sear with pain.

Instead, he heard banging behind him. Makoto opened his eyes and saw Mukuro slightly bowed in front of him, her knife poised but not moving. Her gaze was not on him. His heart drummed as he twisted around as much as he could to follow her stare. The banging came from the back wall, and after a few more beats, a hole exploded into a door that Makoto hadn’t noticed prior to now.

A pair of scissors shot through the gap. Mukuro jumped back and deflected them with her knife, using her lightning fast reflexes. A particularly loud bang caused a cloud of dust to billow out from the door, and when it cleared, the hole had grown larger, enough for someone to slip into the room.

And that person was Touko Fukawa.

She opened her mouth, letting her long tongue hang out.

Correction: that person resembled Touko Fukawa. This was actually Touko’s alter.

“I am the child of the sun! Kamen Rider! Black!” She brandished scissors in each hand. “The girl responsible for many a cyber argument and murder... and who totally kills it in a leotard and bunny ears... Genocider Syo!”

Makoto and Mukuro stared at her. Syo strutted forward, pulling various heroic poses as she went further into the room. In one pose, she had a hand on her hip and pointed upward with her other hand, and in another, she stood on one foot with her arms out straight either side of her.

Mukuro and Makoto looked at each other then returned their bewildered gazes to her. This prompted Syo to hug herself and laugh loudly, spraying spit.

“Wazza matter? Never seen such a cute bunny girl before?”

Her outfit was the same as what Touko usually wore - purple leotard, red tights and a long skirt with a slit at the front, but through the slit, they could see she now wore a leather holster presumably where she stored her scissors.

She folded her arms over her chest with a smirk. “Sorry, but this gal is already taken, and I’m only interested in cute boys anyway!”

Just then, the door that she broke through opened and Byakuya walked in. He closed it behind him. It didn’t seem like it had ever been locked. Syo pivoted on her heel to face him.

“Darling, I think we’ve just walked in on some hot bondage action!” Syo proclaimed. She separated her arms and prodded herself cutely on the cheeks.

Byakuya grimaced and pushed up his glasses. “Your mind is full of smut...”

He strode forward, even though Mukuro had a knife, and Syo skipped along behind him. When he reached Makoto, he stuck up his nose and glared down.

“What a nauseating sight... If you beg, I might cut you free,” he said.

“How...?” Makoto stared stupidly at him. He couldn’t even be offended right now. “How did you know I was here?”

“Is that really important right now?” asked Byakuya. However, he bent down and with a small knife, began cutting at the ropes. “You have plenty of time to ask that later, assuming you’re still alive.”

Nearby, Mukuro’s face hardened and emerging from the stupor caused by the surprise arrivals, she adjusted her hold on her knife and sprinted forward. Makoto screamed while Byakuya regarded her approach with a look of mild annoyance. 

Syo jumped in front of Mukuro and parried off Mukuro’s attack with her scissors. Mukuro staggered back, and Syo twirled her scissors before gripping them securely again. The two bunny girls ran toward each other at the same time and reunited in a clash of metal that escalated into a flurry of attacks. Each time their weapons struck each other, a loud shrill filled the room, and soon it seemed like a single noise. A scream.

Watching them intensified the pounding in Makoto’s head as he tried to keep up with who did what and when. Part of him expected a misstep from either of them and a spray of blood, but both battled in a stalemate.

Byakuya sped up with his knife and freed Makoto, who sat up, wincing.

“Thanks,” said Makoto, rubbing a red mark on his wrist.

“Again, that can wait,” replied Byakuya. “Shouldn’t you be more concerned about Kirigiri?”

Makoto jolted like someone dumped cold water on him. “Kirigiri-san! They can’t have gone far...!”

“Unless they use a secret passage, so you should catch up,” pointed out Byakuya calmly.

“R-Right!” Makoto stumbled to his feet and ran toward the door. He lost his balance on the way but didn’t fall over.

Mukuro leaped back and turned toward him, but then she had to focus on Syo again, who had bounded over to her with her scissors clenched tightly in her hands.

“Things are getting real interesting!” Syo commented, dancing erratically as she dueled Mukuro.

“Thanks, you two,” babbled Makoto, barely able to hear himself, and he tried to open the door that Junko and Kyouko left through. He found it unlocked and flitted out of the room.

“You owe me!” Byakuya called after him.

Makoto rolled his eyes but really, he did - he wouldn’t be able to thank them enough for this. But as Byakuya had insinuated, they had more pressing matters to deal with right now, so he ran down the corridor, leaving those two behind.

Back in the holding cell, Syo dodged one of Mukuro’s attacks, tottering in reverse as she only just avoided it. She breathed loudly, never taking her eyes off her opponent, not even daring to brush some loose hairs from her face as her braids became more dishevelled.

“Oi, you better not lose,” remarked Byakuya, standing a safe distance away. “My life mate’s life is on the line here.”

Syo fended off Mukuro with a wild slashing and glanced at him. “Hey, me and Gloomy are a package deal... so I’m your life mate too, handsome!”

Mukuro dropped down and swept her leg beneath Syo, who arched backward into a handstand before flipping upright.

“I know,” said Byakuya. His face coloured a bit. He scowled to try to counterbalance that. “Still, you can’t lose... it would be humiliating if someone so associated with the Togami name were to be defeated.”

That made Syo smirk. She flung out scissors, whipping out more from her holster. Mukuro evaded them with ease.

When Syo ran out of scissors, Mukuro slowed to a stop and bared her teeth. The blade of her knife glinted as she started to approach Syo, and then with a loud thwack, Mukuro’s eyes rolled back and she fell unconscious.

Syo blinked. 

“Huh?” she blurted.

Byakuya, across the room from the others, smirked.

* * *

Elsewhere in the hideout, Makoto closed another door on an empty room. Judging by the lockers in the corridors and unfurnished rooms with boarded up windows letting in scars of light from outside, with the rest of the light pouring in from the corridor, this place used to be a school and the rooms had been classrooms. They couldn’t have gone that far from the main site, so he wondered if this was the old school hill.

He ran to the next door, skidding to a stop beside it, and as he reached for the handle, he realised it was ajar and hesitated.

With his heart in his mouth, he slowly opened it, and there, in the middle of the room, lay Kyouko with her back to him.

“Kirigiri-san!” he shouted, and he darted forward, reaching an arm toward her. 

She didn’t stir.

The door slammed shut and Junko pounced on him from the shadows, grabbing him from behind. Makoto screamed, but her palm quickly muffled the noise, slapped over his mouth.

“Wow, you were smart enough to get out of your bindings but dumb enough to walk into my trap again,” Junko said, gritting her teeth as she fought to keep him restrained. He kept his eyes forward, on Kyouko.

Kyouko didn’t move.

Junko huffed and said, “You know, I don’t care how you got free, but you’re getting real boring. I guess this is what I get for asking Muku-chan to do one simple thing...”

She sighed. They both stopped thrashing. Seconds passed, then she snarled,

“Kirigiri-san, kill him!”

Makoto stiffened violently. His body seized up as Kyouko rose and turned her head around, terrorising him with her glassy blue eyes. Junko let go of him with one arm, only to toss something at Kyouko’s feet.

A jagged knife. Like the symbol on their academy emblem. Like the symbol on Junko’s choker. When the knife clattered and came to a stop, Kyouko bent down, picked it up, and then shuffled toward them.

He could feel Junko tremble against him, but she didn’t do it out of fear like him. Her laughter rang in his ear as Kyouko drew closer.

“Kirigiri-san! Snap out of it!” Makoto begged.

“This is so good!” Junko gushed, squeezing him. “Don’t worry, after she has skewered you, I’ll snap her out of it... She’s right, that know-it-all was right! I have to see the despair on her face as you die!”

Makoto cycled his legs helplessly on the spot.

“W-Why?” Makoto screamed. “Why are you doing this?”

“Why?” asked Junko. “Why, because after you die and Kirigiri-san is rendered grief stricken, the whole school will fall apart. Imagine... the headmaster’s daughter... killing a student...! And if the school, a beacon of hope, collapses...”

Kyouko arrived in front of Makoto and raised the knife.

“... so will the whole bunny world!” Junko finished.

Makoto shook his head, staring at Kyouko as he did. The world speckled.

“Kirigiri-san, you have to snap out of it!” he said, with hot wet streaks down his cheeks. His eyes were aflame. So was his throat. “Please... Kyouko!”

She froze. Her knife loomed over her head. He breathed loudly. With another step, she would be close enough to stab him. Silently, she bowed her head forward, and her fringe obscured her eyes.

It seemed like he had gotten through to her.

Then, she took another step forward. Then, she tilted back the knife.

And then she swung it downward.

Makoto couldn’t even close his eyes as the knife zoomed toward him. He could just look on in horror and despair. 

The knife cut the air in front of him, missing him entirely, and clanged against the ground as it left her hand. Before Makoto could comprehend what happened, that Kyouko had missed, she spun around with the movement of her arm and when she made a full circle, she punched Junko in the face with her other hand.

Junko flailed her arms out and reeled backward, releasing Makoto. Everything tilted as he tipped over, but a pair of arms caught him before he hit the ground. Kyouko’s arms.

He looked up.

Her purple eyes stared back at him.

“Kirigiri-san...?” he whispered, hoarse.

A ghost of a smile haunted her face.

“Naegi-kun,” she said back with equal volume. She helped him upright and placed her hands against either side of his head. “Are you all right? Did Ikusaba-san hurt you?”

“N-No,” he said. He gulped. His mouth was dry. “Are you okay? I... I thought...”

Tears resurfaced in his eyes. Kyouko pulled him into a hug.

Nearby, on the ground, Junko lifted her head, rubbing her cheek with a furrowed brow. She eyed them both with a sneer, then spotted the knife that Kyouko discarded and crawled toward it. Hoping not to catch their attention, she slunk over slowly, only for Kyouko to kick it out of the way as she reached it and then shove her foot into Junko’s face with enough force to thrust the back of Junko’s head against the ground.

A pained groan escaped Junko. Kyouko and Makoto peered down at her.

“How? How can this be?” Junko mumbled.

“It’s like you said. Your animation wasn’t fully completed,” Kyouko told Junko, her arms folded over her chest. “So I broke free of your control.”

At first, Junko could only gaze at them, her features smooth and devoid of any emotion. Then tremors started in her shoulders. She cricked her neck before setting her eyes back on them. Though she smiled, it seemed to constantly waver.

“How sweet,” she said as she sat up. “How disgustingly sweet. You think you’ve defeated me. So this is where the credits roll, huh? Where you click next page and leave some kudos at the bottom? Maybe reblog? Retweet?”

Makoto turned to Kyouko. “What is she talking about?”

Kyouko shrugged, just as mystified. Junko’s smile slipped off. 

“I’m not alone. I have Muku-chan, and a super mysterious ally,” said Junko, shaking her fists, “and... and...”

She looked ready to scream, to jump to her feet and bite, but whatever she planned to say never came about. The door opened. Everyone turned. Mukuro appeared into view, and Junko’s smile returned.

Only for a moment.

“Talk of the devil! Finally!” Junko said. Staying seated on the ground, she stomped her feet. “You took your time! Now, be a good henchbunny and skin these bastards alive!”

Junko pointed at Kyouko and Makoto. He tensed. Kyouko shielded him with her arm.

Mukuro jerked up a hand, and without moving her lips, said in a different voice, “Go fuck yourself with a knife!”

Makoto noticed a hand gripping Mukuro’s wrist, and when he drew his gaze across her, he saw another hand holding Mukuro’s waist. She remained standing for a few more seconds before collapsing, revealing the person behind her who had been using her as a puppet and impersonating her.

“Tah dah!” announced the one, the only, Genocider Syo, and she retrieved a pair of scissors from her holster, resting her other hand against her hip. “After a battle between the Ultimate Bunny Soldier and the Bunny of Death and Fujoshis... it is I who came out victorious! Please, do thank me!”

Someone sighed behind her before stepping into the room. Makoto’s eyebrows climbed.

“Asahina-san...?” he said.

Aoi turned to him and grinned, clutching a baseball bat. “Naegi! Kirigiri-chan! You’re both alright!”

“What are you doing there?” he asked, eyes wide.

“We came to save you, of course! After we defeated Ikusaba-chan  _ as a team _ ,” Aoi emphasised those last three words, looking at Syo as she said them, “we followed the sounds of your voices.”

Syo flicked her tongue, gazing at Aoi sidelong.

“Yeah, yeah. Also, why didn’t you bring your life mate with you?” asked Syo. She wagged her scissors at her. “That beef machine has bigger muscles, bigger punches and bigger boobs than you.”

Aoi glared. “Because...!”

Silence. She shrunk back and scratched her cheek.

“Um... I don’t know,” she admitted. “I guess... I didn’t want to worry her? Honestly, as soon as I got the text, I borrowed Kuwata’s baseball bat and came straight here. Speaking of which, I need to return it before he realises I have it...”

“You better clean it too! Who knows what body parts it’s been in?” said Syo, smirking. “I know what I’d put it into. I’d put it in my - ”

“Enough,” came a familiar voice. Now Byakuya entered the room. “Your bickering is making my ears bleed.”

Aoi rolled her eyes. Syo burst out laughing but thankfully lost her trail of thought.

“Such a sour face! I would still do you though,” Syo told Byakuya, and just as she started to laugh again, she sneezed. The sound blasted through the room and Syo’s head tipped forward.

When she raised it again, her tongue no longer hung out of her mouth, and she trembled as she looked around. This was not the behaviour of Syo, but of Touko.

“Huh? W-Where am I?” said Touko. She saw Byakuya near her and grabbed his arm, her eyes still darting about. “What’s going on?”

“You did well,” said Byakuya, and he pulled his arm out of her grasp. He then wrapped it around her waist, and her confusion dissolved, leaving only traces in her creased brow and wonky smile as she pressed closer.

One of Junko’s eyes twitched.

“That’s enough!” Junko leapt to her feet. “How did you know to come here?”

“I got a text,” said Aoi. She got out her phone from her backpack and aimed the screen at Junko. “It said it was from you.”

Byakuya and Touko nodded. Junko snatched the phone and read it. Indeed, the sender listed on the phone was Junko, along with her number.

“It must have been that ally of mine...!” Junko hissed. She began pacing, jerking her hands about. “He stole my phone and used it...! When I get out of here, I’m going to...!”

“Why don’t you ask him?” asked Kyouko coolly. “Because he’s here right now.”

During Junko’s tirade, Kyouko had slunk to another part of the room, and she had waited until Junko was in arm’s reach before addressing her. Kyouko grabbed Junko’s shoulder and made her turn. Her other hand pressed a button on something sat on a desk. 

A monitor lit up, beaming swirling colours directly at Junko, who faltered.

“No one else look at it!” commanded Kyouko, and everyone else either closed their eyes or covered them. Byakuya had his hands over Touko’s eyes.

“Despair...” Junko murmured, transfixed. “Is this... it?”

She laughed under her breath, then fell completely silent. A few seconds later, Kyouko switched off the monitor, but Junko didn’t stir, immobilised.

“This animation was created to hypnotise whoever viewed it into obeying Enoshima,” explained Kyouko. “It’s... what she used on me.”

Her lips contorted as she shuddered. No one interrupted her, so she continued.

“With her unable to give orders, only take them from herself, she’s harmless right now,” said Kyouko. “However, it isn’t permanent, so we should hurry and hand these pesky twins over to Hope’s Peak security as soon as possible.”

To think, it couldn’t have been that long ago when Makoto had gone jumping with Kyouko, planning to pop the important question to her, when they discovered that streak of blood.

His insides squirmed. Speaking of which...

“What about Mitarai-kun?” asked Makoto.

Aoi covered her mouth. “What about him? Is he caught up in this too?”

“I’ll explain on the way,” said Kyouko. “This is just scraping the surface... I will have a lot of investigating to do. I’m interested to know who Enoshima’s ally was...”

More work. Makoto wilted but followed after her, with Aoi carrying Junko and Byakuya and Touko carrying Mukuro between them. At the door, Kyouko hesitated and turned her head back.

“... But I think I would like to come to Daisy Fields with everyone to watch the sunset,” she said. “We should celebrate this victory, and I would like to see you all there. Especially you, Naegi-kun.”

He stared.

* * *

To everyone’s relief, Ryouta turned out to be safe in the hospital wing, though he could only tell them he had woken up in the school grounds with no recollection of how he got there. The last thing he remembered was being locked in a room in Junko’s prison. No one knew what happened, but Kyouko shared her suspicions that Junko’s ally had something to do with it, and Makoto thought she was right.

After his visit to Ryouta, where he brought flowers in a vase to set on the bedside table and returned Ryouta’s handkerchief, Makoto set off for Daisy Fields. With Kyouko.

His palms were damp. He felt like he needed to swallow, constantly. But even so, he didn’t retreat to his dorm.

When they arrived at Daisy Fields, warm hues cocooned the area. Makoto surveyed their surroundings. Daisy Fields was a popular hangout for friendship groups and couples, offering great views of sunrises and sunsets. Other couples were there already, stationed on blankets. Lanterns dotted the area like fireflies. Nearby, he spotted the Imposter, dressed as a heavyset Byakuya in a white outfit, with Ibuki sprawled over their lap as she chattered away, her outfit decorated with spikes and neon colours. In another place, Sonia and Gundam leaned against each other with Gundam’s hamsters on her lap. Her teal green leotard, adorned with frills and jewels, gave off a princess vibe, while Gundam’s gothic attire seemed a near opposite.  One of Gundam’s ears was just a stump, supposedly due to a fight many centuries ago even though he was a high school student.

The pair passed by others. Kaito pulled funny faces at Maki, the galaxy print on the inside of his loose-fitting jacket glittering, while she pouted and tried not to smile, going nearly as red as her leotard. Makoto recognised Tenko and Mahiru - Tenko wore a unique green pinwheel bow that complemented her desaturated blue leotard, and Tenko flexed her muscles at Mahiru, who fanned herself, for once not clutching the camera around her neck like she so often did, instead letting it rest against her olive green leotard. Kiyotaka lectured Mondo about something, both with Mondo’s large jacket draped over them.  Kaede wore her life mate’s hat, which had holes for her magenta bunny ears to fit through, and she beamed a smile as dazzling as the polished piano keys she so often played, and Shuichi flushed beside her in his black pinstripe outfit.

Then they found their group, all together. Byakuya and Touko occupied one blanket, with Touko feeding Byakuya food from her bento box, while Aoi sat on Sakura’s lap with Sakura’s arms around her. Aoi blocked much of Sakura’s white and blue sailor suit-inspired leotard from view, but he could still see Sakura’s warm smile.

“Hi!” Aoi greeted as Makoto set out a blanket for him and Kyouko. “You two ready to watch the sunset?”

“As friends?” Touko tacked on.

Kyouko glared, but Touko’s quip made Makoto’s fists clench. His chest bubbled with determination. He turned to Kyouko and grabbed her hands. She blinked.

“Kyouko...” Makoto remembered all the times he failed to tell her, of what he said to Aoi by accident, and then he remembered how Kyouko had staggered toward him like a zombie when hypnotised. 

No matter how many times something went wrong, he couldn’t stop trying. Because... because one day, he might not have a choice but to stop, if something bad happened to either of them. His mouth opened. He breathed in. There were so many things he could say. So many ways to phrase them.

“I love you,” he said, and he squeezed her hands tightly. “Will you become my life mate?”

Everyone stopped what they were doing. Aoi’s and Sakura’s mouths fell open. A sushi roll dropped from between Touko’s chopsticks. Byakuya’s brow quirked. Kyouko stared at him, and with every second that passed, as quiet as the one before, fear set in like an itch Makoto couldn’t reach.

Eventually, a few seconds later, Kyouko smiled and said, “Finally. Yes... and I love you too, Makoto.”

The hairs on the back of his neck stood to attention. She looked away, blushing. Makoto couldn’t hold himself back anymore and threw himself at her. His arms wrapped around her and though she gasped, she eased into the hug. Their lips crashed together. Heat coiled around them as they pressed closer, their legs interlocking, and they held onto the other like they threatened to float away.

But they didn’t. They didn’t. They stayed together, as one. Though his eyes were shut, everything was so bright. Everywhere she touched, even fleetingly, lit up, and every quiet moan added fuel to the building flame in his chest. 

Kyouko’s tongue swiped against his lips. Makoto opened his mouth a little, and Kyouko pushed her tongue in. He felt a swoop in his core that left him energised, shivering as she explored the ridges in his mouth, tasted his warmth, and as she heaved him closer, he submitted, melting into her. 

After a while, Makoto felt her shift, and their lips slid apart as she rested her head on his chest. His lips tingled in the aftermath, and he tried to remember how to breathe again. As they cuddled, the Sun taking its last breath in the distance, he thought they couldn’t get any closer even if they tried.

They had sealed the pact.

“You did it!” Aoi cried out. She sniffled, clasping her hands together. “I’m... I’m so happy for you both!”

Sakura pulled Aoi closer and with a soft smile, she kissed Aoi’s temple. Byakuya hunched his shoulders with a cold look on his face.

“Really? You’re all doing this while I’m eating?” asked Byakuya. “Right in front of my salad?”

“They took their time,” grumbled Touko, and Byakuya nodded. She rested her head against his shoulder. He glanced.

“I love you,” she told him quietly.

Byakuya coughed and adjusted his glasses, which had been in place already.

“I know,” he said, and as they moved their heads closer, the Sun disappeared over the horizon.


	3. Chapter 3

“Hurry up, Kuwata-kun! They’re waiting for us!”

Sayaka gave Leon’s arm another tug, but his pace only quickened for a stumble and then he was back with his casual gait. In the distance, over a hedge, spots of lights glowed throughout Daisy Fields. Strawberry Fields lacked the lanterns that decorated the other place, and the couple had to be careful they didn’t step in any darkness-cloaked holes or tangle themselves in any of the rows of strawberries they were picking their way through. They only had the torch functions on their phones to depend on, and each other.

One might wonder what they had been up to in Strawberry Fields at night, but that secret was hidden behind closed mouths, flushed cheeks and Sayaka’s long, blue hair that covered any patches of shadowed skin on her neck.

Leon could barely feel the night air due to the warmth radiating from him. If anyone asked, it was just from jumping. Just that. Using the hand holding his phone, he wiped his brow with his knuckles. Earlier, when it had still been light, they had gone jumping together amongst other activities. Back then, the rows of strawberries had been easy to distinguish because their vibrant colours stood out against the subdued shades of soil and hay around them, but as it grew darker, though bunny people had quite good night vision, the strawberries blended more and more with their surroundings.

“It would be faster if we jumped the rest of the way,” Leon piped up. “Or are you worried I’ll outjump you again?”

He nudged her lightly with his elbow and winked. Sayaka looked serious.

“But we might land on some strawberries,” Sayaka pointed out. “Think how Bunny Farmer Bandai would feel in the morning if he found some of the strawberries trampled on.”

That sporadically happened anyway. Some things were just inevitable. He was about to sigh, but he couldn’t when she pulled a face like that. Her bottom lip pushed out and her head drooped to one side, so instead, Leon smiled and pecked her on the lips.

When he withdrew, he saw her eyes light up and her lips pucker, and he leaned in again.

This time, Sayaka placed her hand in the way and he kissed her palm.

“Later,” she said with a mischievous grin. “We have the rest of our lives, okay?”

Yet they were hurrying over to Daisy Fields, but Leon just nodded.

In general, bunny people weren’t clumsy, and indeed, as a bunny idol, Sayaka was used to prancing about on a stage with shoes more aesthetically pleasing than practical, but she still wobbled as she stepped over some strawberries. Leon gripped her hand more firmly.

“Relax, Maizono-chan. Like you said, we have the rest of our lives,” Leon told her. He cocked his head and smirked. “‘Sides, we would have more fun if it was just the two of us, eh?”

She turned back to him, and in the torchlight, her pink leotard sparkled and he could see her lips draw into a pout.

“Oh, you,” Sayaka huffed, and she let go of his hand and shoved his chest. Not hard, but he offered no resistance as he laughed and ended up falling backward. 

Leon landed on his butt and stiffened. His smile dropped off. He hiked himself up a bit and rubbed his hand against the back of his trousers. Finding that he hadn’t sat down in any messy strawberries, just hay, he relaxed with a grin.

“Aw, lighten up,” he said, but when he fixed his eyes on her, a frown dimmed his features. 

Something else had claimed her attention. Sayaka’s head was turned away from him as she stared at the distance. Leon rose wordlessly and followed her gaze. Not something, but someone. Some way behind them, a lone figure stood under a tree, and because the person wielded an electric torch, even under the night sky, they could distinguish a few of their attributes. The person was a guy who, at a guess, seemed a year or two older, with black bunny ears on top of his head. He wore black suit trousers and shoes, and unlike other bunnies, didn’t wear any sort of top. His bare skin was pale and contrasted with his long, dark hair that reached the ground.

The guy turned toward them, and they tensed.

Red eyes bore into them. Two members of their class also had red eyes. Celes and Kiyotaka. However, neither of their eyes glowed in the dark like this. Like this stranger’s.

Sayaka stepped closer to Leon and grasped his arm without breaking eye contact with the stranger.

“Do you recognise him?” she asked in a whisper.

He shook his head, very, very slightly.

“It’s weird... he’s not wearing a shirt or anything,” said Leon, furrowing his brow, and Sayaka knocked her hip against him.

“You can’t be so rude about someone you don’t know,” she hissed, squeezing his arm tighter. 

“Yes, dear,” said Leon, wincing.

Sayaka continued staring. “I’ve never seen him before... maybe he’s new?”

The guy must have known they were there, yet he didn’t call out or move toward them or anything. They regarded him for a little longer before Leon put his hand on Sayaka’s back and gently coaxed her into turning away, and the two resumed walking toward Daisy Fields, each shooting furtive looks over their shoulders. 

He didn’t chase after them. Nor did he stir. Still, he gave off a weird aura so Leon pushed a bit firmer against Sayaka, and they left as fast as they could without breaking into a run.

Once they were near the hedge, they slowed down. Leon paused and held his hand against his forehead, squinting as he peered back. The guy hadn’t followed them, or even strayed from the tree. He glanced at Sayaka, who bit her lip, wringing her hands together, and hiked up one end of his lips.

“So...” said Leon, and he slunk an arm over her shoulders. “Why were you so defensive about his outfit, anyway? You thinking about going topless too? Not that I would complain.”

Leon flashed a smile, and without warning, Sayaka pounced on him. He let out a cry as they both descended onto the short grass.

Sayaka’s weight pressed against Leon’s horizontal body. At first, she just squished his cheeks between her hands, but if one listened closely enough, and for long enough, they would have heard them start to kiss, the sounds popping the crisp air. Occasionally, Sayaka let out a giggle, and with Leon, wild, unpredictable Leon Kuwata, she could unwind. Let loose a little.

One such person able to hear them was the stranger. His bunny ears gave a quiver, but as for his face, it remained as apathetic as before, and he set off, not toward those two or where most of the school had gathered in Daisy Fields, but toward the main school grounds. He didn’t waver in his pace, not slowing, not increasing his speed, and he only stopped when he arrived at the main plaza. 

Lamp posts stood at regular intervals, lighting up much of the area, so he could easily see the gaps between the stone slabs beneath his feet and the young bunny girl perched on the rim of the fountain. 

She had green bunny ears on her head, curved forward, a pink backpack, green leotard, brown tights and green shoes. Her fingers and thumbs mashed the buttons of a portable games console. A Nantendo Game Girl, she once called it. Even after he sat down beside her, she didn’t raise her head, continuing to play. Nor did she speak, with beeps, jingles and upbeat music keeping silence at bay. The white clip in her hair, shaped like a spaceship, trembled, like it was flying in a mauve sky.

He didn’t push for a response.

Several minutes passed before she spoke.

“Have you finished that thing you were doing with those friends?” she asked without looking up and without faltering in her gameplay. Reflected light danced in her pink eyes. “Kamukura-kun?”

Izuru Kamukura continued staring at the side of her face.

“It has concluded. It got boring,” he said. He blinked calmly and added, “Nanami.”

Chiaki Nanami struck a button that paused her game. She met his gaze. Drank in his blank expression like it was water. A soft smile tugged on the ends of her lips.

“That’s good,” she said. “That means we can spend more time playing together now, right?”

Her grin didn’t diminish at the face of such a gloomy, passive guy. He turned away from her. They were alone, with no one around to disturb them. The school didn’t rustle. Didn’t breathe.

Izuru kept his glowing red eyes trained forward. It was quiet. 

“Do you want to go on a walk with me?” he asked. “It is a cool night.”

Chiaki didn’t reply. He turned back to her. She tilted her head to one side, eyes downcast and with features as blank as his own.

“I think... I would rather go to my room and play a video game with you,” she said. Her Nantendo Game Girl shifted in her hands. The word ‘PAUSE’ pulsed on the screen. “I still have to beat you in Danganronpa S Battle. Toyoguchi is O.P., but I think Ogata could take her down with the right combos... possibly.”

He inclined his head forward in acknowledgement. She exhaled and leaned against Izuru, using his arm as a pillow, and hit a button to unpause the game. Her character continued jumping across the screen, slashing various enemies, and though her head lolled, like she was falling asleep, her fingers continued scuttling about with no less precision than before. The whole time, he sat stiffly, waiting for her to complete the level.

Ninety-nine percent chance.

After she beat the stage, he straightened up, and she slowly took her head off him.

“It’s getting late.” Izuru stood and offered his hand to her. “Let’s go... Life mate.”

Chiaki clasped his hand with a quiet yawn and rose too. Even once she was standing, she still didn’t let go, gazing at him with a crease blemishing her forehead. Maybe she was just tired. Seventy-five percent chance. Maybe she was thinking about her game. Twenty percent chance. Maybe he had a bit of lettuce stuck between his teeth. Nought point three percent chance. 

Maybe -

She sprung onto tiptoe and now she released his hand as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled, causing his head to stoop, and her lips pressed against him in a kiss.

For a couple of seconds, they stood as still as statues. As still as the rest of the plaza.

Izuru broke away first. He swept an arm across the back of her legs and picked her up bridal-style. She wasn’t as light as many of her female classmates, but he lifted her with ease. Her eyes widened as she settled in his arms, facing toward the sky.

Toward his face, brighter and whiter than the Moon in the background.

“Huh?” she went. “Did I noclip?”

“I wanted to see the surprised look on your face,” Izuru explained. “I thought it would make things slightly less boring... but I predicted your reaction correctly. Still, it doesn’t mean I don’t like seeing it.”

Chiaki’s eyes flickered. Processing what he said, she puffed out her cheeks and buried her face in his shoulder. Her marshmallow scent drifted up his nostrils.

“Kamukura-kun...” she mumbled into him, and she bopped his other shoulder blade with her fist gently. “... you doofus. That’s what I was trying to see on you.”

A faint smirk glimmered on his lips. Not that she could see it.

He pulled her closer, and with a firm hold on his life mate, he sauntered in the direction of their dormitories while she resumed playing her Game Girl.


End file.
